>> this is bbc world news. funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures, and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries.

what can we do for you? >> and now, bbc world news. >> shelling of homs continues as the u.n. secretary general describes a failed resolution as disastrous. fabio capello quits as england's football manager. an arrest warrant has been issued for the former president of the maldives, but it's not clear what the charges are. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm geeta guru-murthy. also in this program -- china's inflation jumps to a three-month high after the festivities of the new year sent consumer spending soaring. and britain's prince harry qualifies as an apache helicopter pilot and wins an award for his sharpshooting.

>> 30 people are reported to have been killed in homs. there's heavy bombardment in its sixth day. the u.n. chief, ban ki-moon, has described appalling brutality. he warns of the dangers of the escalating crisis, saying russia aand china's veto had encouraged damascus to step up its war on its own people. and he reveals plans for the arab league to start its mission with u.n. help. activists estimate that 400 people have been killed in homs in the past week. the bbc's paul wood has this report from the city. >> it began at dawn, and for a fifth day, homs was under bombardment. some said it was the worst day of shelling.

syrian armor roamed menacingly. people here are afraid the regime intends a final push to crush the uprising? the casualties are mounting. undoubtedly most are civilians. they had put their hopes in a u.n. resolution, but it was vetoed by russia and china. they are bitter about that. this is a little child. he's about 3 years old. he got hit with a bomb in his house. is this what the u.n. is waiting for? is this what the u.n. is waiting for? till there aren't any more children left? till they kill all the children, kill all the women? >> homs is shuttered and

terrified after many punishing days of this. hundreds of shells and mortar bombs have been fired at this place. amid all the greefs and panic, the one thing you hear over and over again from people is that they feel abandoned by the outside world. they haven't been out to play since the uprising began. their mothers in despair. the outside world won't help us, she says, but god's vengeance will come down on the syrian president. the guns of the free syrian army can do little against tanks. they hope the regime's forces will crumble from the inside.

the syrian army's mirah has collapsed. they know they're killing civilians, and they want this bloodbath to stop. as the bodies pile up, the prevailing mood here is one of despair. people feel trapped, and they believe no one is coming to help. paul wood, bbc news, homs. >> well, paul wood is now in beirut in neighboring lebanon, where he gave me a further idea of what daily life is like in homs. >> well, there was constant shell fire. we counted hundreds of impacts every day, and people got a little bit hysterical under that pressure. sometimes they would run around shouting the army is about to come in, the army is going to use chemical weapons, none of which, you know, happened.

but those are the kind of beliefs they have. a lot of people were personally touched by tragedy. i remember interviewing the man who wraps people for burial in white shrouds, and just asked him, have you had to do this for a member of your own family, and he listed many members, his own son, his cousin, his brother-in-law, his uncle, four members of his own family. you met over and over again people with those kind of stories. they haven't just lost one person, they've lost many people from their families. homs is the third largest city, but it's quite a small place in those areas that support the uprising. the buildings are close together. there's no real shelter. there are no basements in houses. the place is being pounded. that has affected in a very personal way every single person living there. >> and do the people have any means at all of either hiding or defending themselves or fleeing? >> well, it's very difficult to

get out. we slipped out the night before last, and we arrived in lebanon last night, and we were pretty much the only people moving out. as we came out, there were people, volunteers of the free army that called itself trying to get in medical supplies, blood, fresh blood which had been donated from villages surrounding homs and other really badly needed things like bandages. they couldn't get them into the city. in the bit of homs where we were staying, baba amr, they don't have bread because the bakery was hit earlier. so somebody tried to get bread. they came through a hail of gunfire at one particularly difficult road junction. they got hit by a sniper bullet, so those are the kind of pressures that people are under. bread is running short. they still have water and electricity from time to time, but they're cut off and under siege. >> paul wood speaking to me from beirut on the distressing situation still unfolding in homs in syria.

now, greece's finance minister has said the country's survival over the coming years depends on a new deal being agreed. his comments come as leaders from the party packing greece's coalition government failed to reached an agreement on the new austerity program. international lenders will not release the bailout of 130 billion euros unless a series of measures are adopted. >> people here felt that the main sticking point in all of these negotiations would have been a cut to the minimum wage. that is thought to be the most con keshes issue here, really. that was thought to be the issue that would bring tens of thousands out on to the streets in protest. but that was what was actually agreed by the party leaders, and now the sticking point is this reform, cut to pension. what we will see today is the finance minister here is in brussels to try to discuss this issue with eurozone finance ministers. the option in theory could be

to write off this 300 million euro gap, which would have been closed by pension cuts. so, in theory, the eurozone finance ministers could say, well, look, you've agreed to 90% of the deal, 300 million euros, let's write it off. in practice, that's unlikely to happen, because there's so much exasperation among the eurozone at the pace of reform here in greece that i think the pressure is going to continue to try to find this 300 million euros in savings. question then will be, will it be some kind of agreement on pension cuts or can there be 300 million euros found elsewhere since 90% of the deal has now been agreed on? i think it's too early to tell. >> just to let you know, one news agency is reporting that greek labor unions have now called a two-day general strike starting on friday to protest against the cutbacks that are being discussed. they will be holding protest

rallies outside parliament on those two days. on sunday, lawmakers are expected to vote on the austerity measures. well, we have got more from a on. the e.c.b. are looking at sbrathes, still heavily involved with greece. we've seen deadlines come and go every single day on greece. >> but it is the big interest rate, actually for the region's two big banks, the bank of england. and let's not kid ourselves, no expectations at all of any interest rate moves from either central bank at the moment. they will remain at their record lows. today is going to be very interesting. today is all about just how much more money will these central banks pump into the economy. i mean, if you look at the global economic picture, the u.k. slowed toward the end of last year. you've got the certain european countries gently sliding back into recession. now, if we start with the bank of england, there is expectations that they could issue a release another round of quapttaverb easing.

let's pump the money into the system so hopeful that will money would get out into the real economy. with the european central bank, they could launch a second round, a successful round of releasing billions of dollars, billions of euros, very chop leans for certain banks to keep them propped up for what some may say the inevitable problems with greece or some of the other bigger economies. >> china has got inflation figures out. >> inflation has been a big problem for china. it's the thing that beijing is worried that could actually curb the china growth story. last year they made many measures to try to bring inflation down. it has worked a bit. but in january inflation jumped up to 4.5%, up from 4%. real big problems, food inflation is the issue there. but we're going to go live to beijing in about 20 minutes on the "world business report," talk about that and, of course, the rest of the business. >> marvelous. thanks very much indeed. now, a drone attack by the u.s.

has killed a senior member of al qaeda in pakistan. badar mansoor is believed to run a training camp for militants. he was killed near pakistan's border with afghanistan in a region of north waziristan. our correspondent is in islamabad, aleem maqbool. given the report that came out last week, again talking about what has been expected for so long, that pakistan's i.s.i. has certainly got close contacts with members of some of these militant groups, what is the reason for this particular chap being successful, do you think? >> well, there have been several drone attacks in the last couple of weeks. there was even one yesterday in which 10 militants were killed, and the united states would say that if this militant has been killed, and it is always very difficult to independently verify who is killed in these attacks, because it is in an in-hospital area, we're only getting this at the moment from officials in the area, then they will say that this really

is justification for the drone program, which has been very controversial here. president obama broke the american silence really on the drone program just in the last couple of weeks, talking about it pinpointing al qaeda militants and being really the only way to target militants without putting boots on the ground and having much more in intrusive military action in these tribal areas. they will say this is certainly a success, because badar mansoor, the mill at-bat we're talking about, is someone with a history of violence, and is certainly suspected of killing dozens of people in many, many attacks in pakistan and further appealed. >> but is this a question of successful intelligence by the u.s. or is this a question of pakistan or those connected with the intelligence services in pakistan feeling that they have to offer up something to the u.s. and to the west periodically?

>> well, pakistan officialsly has always said that it doesn't approve of this drone program, but it undermines pakistani sovereignty, but it's always been felt that intelligence sharing is going on on the ground and that actually pakistan is fully supportive of the drone program, because ultimately these are militants who've not only organized attacks across the border in afghanistan, but for example, with this militant, has killed many pakistanis. badar mansoor is expected in the case of the suicide bombing on a couple of mosques in lahore, in which over 90 people were killed. so pakistanis would say killings like this helped them as much as they do the americans. >> aleem maqbool in islamabad, thank you very much. you're watching "bbc world news." still to come -- as capello walks from the job of england manager, we speak to the former chief executive of the football association.

>> at some of the international newspapers, and that football story dominating all the british press. england expects, quoting "times," and admiral nelson says the battle in expectation that he might become the country's new football manager after capello has exited. the west is behaving like a bull in a china shop, that's a quib from vladimir putin. he says moscow is stepping up its defense of president assad's regime to stop the violence. the daily telegraph says britain's prince harry will return to the front line in afghanistan as the co-pilot of an apache attack helicopter and will serve with units that have the highest kill rate. that's the story we're running also. can&china daily focuses on the prime minister, and there was a

series of trades agreements. those are the headlines. this is "bbc world news." i'm geeta guru-murthy. our main headline today -- residents of homs endure more bombardment as the u.n. secretary general says the arab league plans to revive its mission to syria. britain's prime minister, david cameron, has backed the english football association in its row with fabio capello. the coach quit yesterday evening after disagreeing with the decision to strip john terry of the team's captaincy. it's a mess which leavesening land football in a state of chaos just four months before the european championship. here's our sports correspondent. >> having resigned as england manager, fabio capello left wembley last night, the latest big name to fail in football's impossible job. the italian as shock departure stems from the decision to strip john terry of the england

captaincy last week once it became known he'd stand trial in july. he denies racially abusing another player in october. capello was not involved with the decision, felt undermined, and went public with his disapproval on italian television. >> no, i did not agree at all with the decision. civil justice, not sports justice will rule whether john terry committed the crime he's accused of. i think it right and still think it's right that john terry should keep the captain's arm band. >> capello issued a direct challenge to the authority of his employers, and after showdown talks with the f.a., the manager resigned from his six million pounds a year post. in a statement, the chairman, david bernstein, said during today's meeting and throughout his time as england manager, fabio has conducted himself in extremely professional manner. we have accepted fabio's resignation, agreeing this says the right decision. >> well, i'm sorry to see fabio go. i think he was a good coach and good man. i liked him.

i don't think he was right about the john terry issue. you can't be captain with that question mark that needs to be answered. but england now needs a new coach and a new captain, and i hope we can get on with that and make sure we make the best of the opportunities this summer. >> capello's departure brings to an end his four years in charge with little sign of progress. and just months before a major tournament, the national team now finds itself with no captain and no coach. >> well, a former chief executive of the english football association told me that the manager of the english premier league is now very much the favorite to replace fabio capello. >> everybody is on harry, because he's still there, and the f.a. has to respect that. they're in a great position because of what harry redknapp has done. it's not a slam dunk that harry redknapp is going to be available in the short term.

>> there's also speculation you'd have interim figures looking after the team for the next few months, and then harry redknapp does it on a shared basis with his day job. >> well, there's probably many haven'ts, and that would be the basis of discussion if they talk to harry redknapp about the case. and harry redknapp has already professed his support. >> if he wasn't so loved, why wasn't he chosen before? >> well, i think you've got the issue of the trial hanging over him, and that was certainly a bit -- it was obviously a serious issue, if he'd been found guilty. so that's certainly cleared. and you found that fabio capello wax out. >> do you think he walked away voluntarily? he walked away voluntarily from a big job. >> i'm not sure. i wasn't there in the conversations that were had. you can see he's a guy, he's obviously a very forceful guy. he has his own opinions, and he

stood by what he believes is the right decision for him as an individual. >> but do you think if he hadn't resigned he would have been forced to go anyway? >> not necessarily, but again, you don't know how the actual conversations went and you will never know, because i don't think the f.a. will explain what was said at the meetings. but it is possible for an england manager to have a different view over this particular issue. >> why was john terry allowed to play but not the captain? what's the logic? >> well, looking at the f.a. statement, i think they stripped out in terms of his role, from a role as a player, his role as a captain, and that ambassadoral element of the role. >> but it's an arbitrary line. that's what fabio was saying, and his authority also on the line. >> well, it's a judgment call, and actual when will it comes down to it, if you look at the terms of the contract on reputation issues, that will be a judgment call of the board, and so they will consult with capello and they would discuss

the position. we don't know the ins and outs of the communication. but it is their call. and in that regard, i don't think it was legitimate, and i don't think the f.a. intended it to be legitimate. >> i mean, all the newspapers here are talking about terry redknapp. is it a shoo n? >> well, what we know so far, he's left this morning on thursday. there's been no conversation between the f.a. and harry redknapp. it's only been about 12 hours since capello left that post. but i think it's an interesting one, because he's the favorite of the fans, the media, the players. we've had endorsements on twitter from people of wayne rooney. my only concern from just a personal point of view for harry redknapp is the fact he has just been through an awfully long and very pressurized court case regarding his tax evasion charges, which, of course, he was cleared of. and he's 65 this year.

the thing about the england manager's job in this country is you are either a hero or a zero. and only one person has ever been a hero, and that was sir ralph ramsey, who won the world cup. >> fabio capello, it's reported he's already headed home to italy, taking the first flight from lone done. but he had a stellar reputation, didn't he? >> i'm want entirely certain his reputation would have been ruined. it certainly hasn't been enhanced. he was incredibly well paid for the four years he did the job, and he qualified for the world cup. but the world cup in 2010 will be something of a black mark for him. he seemed like a man out of control of that team, undermined by various rivalries. but he will always be worthy for teams like milan and rome. >> do you really need an english man to lead an english club, and shouldn't the players

take some of the blame? how much power do these people have? >> that's the way we start. it seems to be the players want this man to manage next. he wants opinions different. >> best man for the job, ok, thanks very much. we will see you. a news conference is due in about an hour and a half and much more to come on that whole football debut. now, arrest warrants have been issued for the former president of the maldives and his defense minister, the charges are still unclear. mr. nasheed, who resigned on tuesday, said he was forced to quit at gun point by police and army officers in a coup. he says the move was planned with the knowledge of the vice president, who has now replaced him. mr. he denies those claims. when libyans mark the first anniversary against gaddafi, not everyone will be celebrating. parts of the country remain loyal to the former leader and fought for him right up to the

end, in particular his birthplace, where gaddafi made his last stand. our correspondent, jonathan head, reports from there on the formidable challenge the new government now faces in persuading gaddafi loyalists to accept the revolution. >> libya's freedom holds little joy for the people of a defeated city. military-style morning exercises are familiar now. but not the new national anthem. it symbolizes a revolution no one here wanted to see. the battle for gaddafi's birth place last year has left scars on almost every building and on its children. most of their families were strong supporters of the old regime. >> nothing's changed.

it's just a different flag on our books and a new anthem. the attacks were in our houses. they destroyed everything. what did we do to them? just look at our schools. >> sirt was punished for its defiance. there are libyans who say it should never be rebuilt, it's too much of a gaddafi project to live on. the great plans that muammar gaddafi had to turn his hometown into a showcase libyan capital, an international venue, have come to this. the destruction is simply staggering. you have to wrned how someone who identifies itself so closely with the former ruler will ever fit into the new libya. the new rulers are promising that it will. they can overcome the hostility the city earned from its once

privileged status. >> everyone agrees that sirte should be our top priority. i think other libyan people now have sympathy for the city. >> there's little evidence of that yet. much of sirte's population feels beaten and abandoned, and they remain stubbornly loyal to gaddafi. if you ask people here, they still want to believe gaddafi is alive, said this man. he remains in our heart, he said. they have paid a very high price for that loyalty. libya, though, may also have to pay a price if the losers in last year's uprising are pushed aside and forgotten. jonathan head, bbc news, sirte. >> more, of course, on the

website, bbc.com/news, the very latest on all our stories. thanks for watching. i'm geeta guru-murthy. this is "bbc world news." >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures, and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of

industries. what can we do for you? >> bbc world news was presented by kcet los angeles.